


because it was my aim to get caught

by zauberer_sirin



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, Flirting, Future Fic, Missions, Older Man/Younger Woman, Post-Coital, Resolved Sexual Tension, Undercover, Wall Sex, jealousy but not really because i hate jealousy tropes, mention of mild sexual harassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-25 04:27:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3796678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/pseuds/zauberer_sirin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye knows Coulson is only fake!flirting with her for the mission. It still complicates things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	because it was my aim to get caught

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hamsterfactor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamsterfactor/gifts).



> title from Fiona Apple's "The First Taste"

She puts on her best dress and her best game face.

Bobbi helped choose both, actually. A cotton white dress, kind of simple and summery, held up by a wide leather belt, and though of course Skye was used to relying on her wits she has never done this as an agent, not properly. Bobbi has the experience in making a mark like her, like _like_ her, and that's the key to this particular buyer, from what they know. Unfortunately Bobbi blew her cover with him years ago, so she can't lead the operation. 

She can help Skye lock the mark down, though. And also help her look good, because for whatever reason Skye is not feeling exactly like Mata Hari here.

"I know this guy pretty well," Bobbi is saying, fidgeting with Skye's dress. "I think you should go in without the bra."

"Well, I don't have _your_ boob game but..."

Bobbi smiles at her – a bit patronizingly, if Skye may add, which, _hey!_. Her breast size is fine, thank you.

"Trust me, he'll fall for it. He's that kind of guy."

Skye raises an eyebrow. "No thanks, I think I'll keep the bra, thanks."

Bobbi shrugs.

"I don't have to convince _convince_ him, right?" Skye asks.

"We are just here to talk to him, arrange a meeting with his boss," Coulson reminds them. He was impressively unimpressed listening to all their boob talk. A complete professional.

Skye smiles. She doesn't like the idea of being that kind of bait with a bad guy, but at least Coulson will be with her every step of the way. That makes her feel a bit less "dirty", so to speak. And less vulnerable. She is posing as a rouge agent selling out information on the gifted people who have gone into hiding. As for Coulson's presence, in general, Bobbi said the fastest way to force the guy to make a mistake is to present some competition. It drives him mad with jealousy. Hunter had offered initially, of course, but Coulson had more experience, and he looked more the type who would be interested in the information Skye will pretend to be selling. Not to talk unkindly of Hunter, but Skye prefers it this way.

"You look good too, sir," Bobbi teases Coulson.

"Yeah I know," he replies, unfazed.

Yes, not that Skye is biased or anything here, but it's kind of nice seeing him out of his dark suit and striped ties, even if he's going a bit for the sleazy side of it, the unbuttoned shirt and the unreliable smirk.

The guy they are trying to trick, Ted, is just a middle-man, a minion, Bobbi tells them, their goal is finding out who he is trying to buy the list for. But in a world where the secret identity of gifteds has become currency it's important that they find out who's behind the proposal to buy such intel from her.

The two of them have a drink at the hotel bar while they wait for Ted The Middleman, Skye dusting off her old trick of pretending to drink more than she's actually drinking. It's all about the misdirection, actually.

"We need to find out who's trying to use this data," Skye repeats, more like a pep talk to herself than to remind Coulson. This is important.

"We will," he says, looking straight into her eyes, very seriously. "You've got this."

She breathes a little easier at that.

She sees the mark approach behind them, thanks to the mirror above the bar shelves. 

"He's here," she tells Coulson. "Come on, touch my back, do something sexy. Let's have him thinking he's at a disadvantage here, put the screws on the guy."

Coulson smiles up at her, like he's impressed and pleased, and draws a slow hand along the back of her dress. It's warm and sexy and Skye is beginning to contemplate a previously unforeseen problem with this mission. She takes a sip of her drink and checks her best totally-genuine-I-swear smile while pressing back against Coulson's touch.

Ted, in question, does look like a middleman for a shady organization, out of a movie. Sand blonde and around forty-five, wearing the kind of suit Coulson can no longer afford, for example, but with less taste. And well, Skye can smell a sleazebag a mile away and this one, for all the elegant fixtures, stinks.

"I didn't think we'd have an audience," the man says, regarding Coulson with understandable suspicion.

Coulson just half-smiles in a smug way and lets Skye lead, giving his drink a long sip.

"He's another interested..." she throws her head back and flashes a flirty grin towards Coulson. "Party."

"I'm not here to bargain," their mark protests.

Skye touches his arm. "Come on. You don't seem like the kind of guy who gets frightened by a little competition."

The man huffs but she can tell he's half-swallowing the hook.

"Phil is an old friend, a regular buyer of my intel," Skye adds, drawing her fingers across Coulson's arm. He fixes the mark a challenging smile. "But I'm open to the idea of someone new snatching me up, though."

She can tell the guy likes _likes_ her already, Bobbi was right, he has an agenda other than the intel. Skye tries not to grimace at the idea. She tries to be as charming and fake as she knows how to. She hasn't felt like this since she had to walk into Quinn's Malta party with only her wits and her pretty face and no preparation. This is different, though. She's different. And this time she's not alone.

 

+

 

Skye proposes they all have a drink together.

"So I can decide which one of you I like best," she says, smirking at both Coulson and the potential buyer, then giggling softly like she's a bit drunk.

Coulson takes her arm while they all walk into the private lounge. Skye finds it entertaining, the way he tries to do an Alpha Male impersonation that's so unlike him.

After that it's all champagne and flirting, and Ted trying to convince her he's got the biggest dick in the whole hotel, apparently. Coulson enrages him with his knowledge on the champagne issue and wins round one of the dick-measuring contest. He seems to know how much to push the guy so that he'd get frustrated and make a mistake. Skye enjoys seeing him like this, all confident in the field, and playing foolish pigs like Ted like a fiddle.

"What is your employer's interest in my product?" she asks. She feels Coulson tensing slightly by her side, worried she might blow her cover. Relax, she thinks, and brushes her fingers against his hand.

"My employer is interested in paying enough money so that no on asks any questions," Ted replies. Skye can tell the edge of danger is not a bluff. She swallows and then covers it well with a chuckle.

"Classy. I already like that employer or yours," she says. Then she turns to Coulson -but not so much that Ted can't see the coquettish look she throws at him. "You've never been that classy with me, Phil."

And it feels like some sort of luxury, even if it's not real, to be able to call him "Phil".

Coulson gives her a slow smile (his gaze drifting to engage with the other man, oh smart, boss, Skye thinks, like this is between them and Skye is just an object), touching his hand to the back of her neck in a possessive way.

"I have other qualities," he says, holding the bad guy's gaze, his tone unmistakeable.

This is fun, it's like she and Coulson are performing a play together. Except if they mess up they get killed. But it's fun.

It's also something else, something other than fun.

It's complicated.

It feels strange, having to flirt with Coulson for a mission, and to have Coulson flirt back. It almost feels _wrong_. It doesn't really help that they are as close as they have ever been, as friends and colleagues. After the whole fake real SHIELD debacle and how they worked side by side, and shoulder to tired shoulder, to protect gifted people from both underground and official organizations it feels like she and Coulson have gone through _everything_ together.

It doesn't help the situation that Skye has been having these – she's not sure if she should call them fantasies, about Coulson lately. She keeps seeing him in a non-professional, not-strictly-friendly light. It's just something silly, maybe she has too much free time on her hands lately. She had never seen him in such a way before – or at least not since the first days after they met and she was definitely _curious_ , but then he became Coulson and those ideas naturally fade. Maybe it's just the closeness and she is just confused. Maybe she is just lonely. She tries to justify it in a way that doesn't ruin their whole friendship forever. And she knows they are just playing a role here, but Coulson touching her and smiling at her like he's interested in that _way_ is having an effect. She's fine, she's fine. She's not an idiot, she knows Coulson would never do that with her. He's the guy who has stuck with her through everything, It's only natural to be confused, specially when the mission requires for him to act like he's an option, something Skye could have.

Coulson is touching her shoulder now, his thumb gently digging into the skin under the arm of her dress to pull her to him. He tugs her towards her, leaning to whisper in her ear.

"Pretend I've said something funny," he tells her. Skye can feel his lips brushing the shell of her ear, his hot breath on her neck with every word.

She looks back at him, taken by surprise by her own reaction, and it's only after a moment that she remembers what he just said, and the mission. She turns to Ted and burts out laughing.

"What did he say?" the guy asks, irritated at being out of the loop.

"Oh, nothing I can repeat out _loud_."

There's something in the man's eyes. Not jealousy, not envy. Something uglier. A possessiveness which makes Skye's skin crawl because it's not the first time she's felt it. It reminds her of the worst parts of her childhood. It reminds her of Grant Ward. She smiles through her distaste.

"You know what I want, Teddy," she says. "I want to meet your employer."

"That would look suspicious."

And yeah the guy is super gross but he's not an idiot. Even with all his blood gone to his dick – Skye tries to forget that mental image – he's not that careless. She would have to make him.

"How could such a _good girl_ like me be suspicious?" she says, resting her hand on the mark's knee, weirdly conscious of Coulson's gaze on the back of her neck. 

The guy is not buying it.

Skye leans back on her chair, decides to play it the other way.

"I might not be a good girl," she says. "But I'm a smart one. I can sell anyone the list, yes. But I have more where this came from, and I want to be set up with a reliable buyer for the forseeable future. Can your employer be the one for me?"

 

+

 

In the end Ted The Middleman swallowed hook and line and they have a date with the big shot tomorrow. That part Skye knows is going to be easy. They just have to take him down. No one interested in buying confidential information about extraordinary individuals these days has good intentions. It'll be all tactical suits and adrenaline. Skye is more comfortable with those.

She and Coulson go back to the hotel room they have booked for the mission, for the post-mortem.

She feels like taking a shower, to be honest, after allowing that jerk to ogle her so much. She wonders if Coulson feels the same. Things had gotten a bit weird once they had set up the meeting and the guy had gone on the offensive.

"You didn't look that hot at the end of it," she points out.

"You didn't look comfortable," Coulson replies.

Skye cringes. Yep, Ted's behavior at the end of their conversation hadn't been that gentlemanly (nothing that Skye couldn't handle, of course, and nothing that couldn't be permanently fixed with vibrating him to the nearest prison cell). Coulson had played the jilted suitor and pretended to drown his sorrows in scotch back at the bar, carefully keeping an eye on his team-mate.

"Yeah, he got a bit handsy out there, ugh," she admits. Then she turns to Coulson, flashing him a smile that is not quite undercover, but not exactly fake. "Why, _Phil_? Were you _jealous_?"

Coulson gives her a hard, disappointed look.

"I was worried about my fellow agent," he says.

Skye looks away, blushing. Mission is over, she should have known better than to try and flirt up here with him. She was keeping her changing feelings under wraps, she's good at that, at hiding what she wants. Why would she make such a mistake just now? She's not drunk, and she is definitely not that careless. She's not easily caught up in the moment.

"Yeah, of course," she stutters, trying to cover it. "How could you possibly be jealous? Stupid me."

She tries to walk past him towards the bathroom door, but Coulson stops her with one hand on her arm. His fingers are so hot on her skin, just like back at the bar.

Skye stares back at him, looking for an answer for this gesture. Coulson has never grabbed her like this before, has never stopped her from walking away.

"I'm sorry, okay?" she repeats, thrown off by the intensity in his gaze.

"You were playing a part back there," Coulson tells her, a tone of voice Skye has never heard before from him. "I would want it to be real, if it was _with me_."

Skye feels all the air go out of her lungs just like someone had punched her. But nothing so violent. Could Coulson really mean that? Has he ever said anything to her he doesn't mean?

"I don't–" she starts.

His fingers hot around her forearm he pushes her back against the wall and his mouth tastes like champagne. He pins her, almost knocking the air out of her for real when he presses their chest together, trapping her between his body and the wall. He pushes his tongue past her lips forcefully and Skye can barely keep up and by the time Coulson is drawing little desperate moans out from her throat her legs threaten to go out from under her. She twists her fingers into Coulson's jacket and pulls it off him, almost like a reflex, without a clear plan or any real knowledge of what they are doing here. What the hell are they doing? Does Coulson even know? Coulson doesn't seem to know a freaking thing other than that he wants her right now. Skye feels dizzy with the idea.

He grabs her hips like he wants to push her bakcwards but there's no more backwards, this is it, he only grinds his body harder against her.

Skye can feel his hard-on pressed against her hip.

She suddenly realizes there was a bit of actual Coulson behind all the smiles and the touches, just like there was a bit of actual Skye in the way she had looked at him with desire. Not entirely a game. Just an excuse. 

She finally breaks out of the surprise and moves her body against his, popping her hips out and biting his bottom lip. Coulson makes a choked noise at that. He lifts his hand to her breast and Skye suddenly wishes he had followed Bobbi's advice and dropped the bra, frustrated that she can't feel his touch through the fabric. Coulson then drops his hand between their bodies, slipping it under her white dress. She gasps when he just grabs her, pressing his fingers against her through the fabric of her underwear, rubbing hard against her clit, making her wet in a moment.

"What are – _oh_ ," she moans when he slips his fingers under the fabric and inside her. It feels like it's been only mere seconds since she asked if he was jealous.

He is rough and careful at the same time, fucking her like this at the same time he sucks tender kisses all over her shoulders and neck. 

Okay, this is happening, a part of her brain says. It's happening so fast and _so much_. It's so impossible she wants to laugh. There was never any chance Coulson would want to do this with her, that even if he wanted he would have allowed himself to do this. This is pretty much a miracle and Skye wastes no time in rushing it along. She presses her palms against his chest and pushes him off her a bit, enough that she can start maneuvering him out of his clothes for this to be possible, not knowing if _this_ – this sudden need she has to feel him inside her, properly – is something Coulson even wants. He doesn't complain when he realizes what she is doing, in fact he lets out a tiny pleased sound of surprised when Skye drops her fingers to his groin.

It takes some skill to unbuckle and unzip Coulson while she's pinned to the wall but Skye doesn't seem to notice, she's like in a daze, her hands moving over his belt on their own accord. The world focuses again when she slips one hand under his boxers and hears Coulson hold his breath, almost frightful.

"Skye... are you? Are we...?" he asks breathlessly.

She knows what he's asking – he's such a good guy, after all, considerate and thoughtful, no matter how many times he could push her against a wall so impulsively, that's not going away any time soon. She smiles and by reply she wraps her fingers around his cock and starts stroking him. For a moment Coulson's knees seem to buckle and he falls foward, mouth open against Skye's neck. He lets out a tiny, pained whimper that makes Skye wonder when was the last time someone touched him like this.

He recovers, though, pulls back to meet her eyes. He grabs her wrist and stops her.

"Stop," he whispers, voice dripping with lust. Skye didn't know he could talk like that. "Stop or I'll.. please."

She stops, and draws her hand away while Coulson pulls his underwear down, one hand still pressing Skye's hip against the wall.

Coulson grabs the hem of her dress and shoves it over her waist, growling in frustration when her fashionable belt opposes him, kissing Skye while he takes it off her and drops it to the floor.

Coulson moves his hands to the back of her thighs, propping her even higher against the wall.

And then Skye reaches between them to guide him in as he pushes her underwear aside. Shit, that's hot, Skye thinks, a bit light-headed by the moment before the moment, by literally being able to feel the heat of his dick between her kegs. Coulson groans when he sinks his whole length into her, fast. Skye can't breathe – not just because it's been a while, but mainly because it's Coulson and now she has to admit all her pathetic fantasies weren't just that, it wasn't just because he's a good guy or because they have gone through so much together. Well, that's part of the whole. The whole being –Skye realizes when she first feels Coulson's cock inside of her, _great_ – that she is in love with him.

She clenches around, her heels digging into his thighs, trying to push away the enormity of such a revelation.

"Fuck, Skye," Coulson mutters against her neck, whimpering, louder this time.

If Coulson wanted real, this is as real as it gets, Skye thinks.

He tilts his body to keep her steady as he starts thrusting into her, bucking against her hopelessly.

Her hips thud against the wall.

"Coulson," she calls out, shutting her eyes and clenching her legs tight around Coulson's back.

He looks at her, when Skye opens her eyes she just sees him staring out at her, this guy who has stuck with her through everything, the guy she has stuck with through everything, and he's looking at her _like that_ , like he has been feeling what she has been feeling all this time, and it's too much and Skye has to shut it out for a moment so she grabs Coulson by the back of his neck and pulls him against her mouth. Coulson kisses her back the best he can. He's not pulling out anymore, just pushing her harder and harder against the wall. She grabs his collar and hides her head into his chest as he fucks her.

He comes first, but he doesn't pull out until he reaches his hand between their bodies and gets Skye off too, and she holds her in his arms long after that, laying languid open-mothed kisses all over her neck, her jaw.

 

+

 

The weirdest bit so far is watching him take off his wristwatch and put it on the bedside table with such care.

He's in his underwear and Skye is wearing the robe she found in the bathroom.

They lie on their sides, over the bed covers, and it's kind of nice, talking to each other when they are so close. Skye has time to take a good look at him. The proximity is disconcerting, he almost doesn't look like Coulson this close, or he looks _too much_ like Coulson. The bare shoulders, the scar, the soft hair under his belly, the taut line of his hips. It's the first time Skye is seeing these things.

She stares at his face.

He has a nice nose. Until now that he is so close Skye hasn't particularly notice. Not the way she used to notice his hands, his mouth.

She draws her finger along the outline of that nose, up to the bridge. Coulson half-closes his eyes for a moment. She feels the hardened bit of skin and remembers a couple of months back when while on a mission he almost got his nose broken by the bad guys. She remember the scar it left disappearing day by day in front of her eyes. But it's still there, under her fingertips. Still a really nice nose, despite all the punches it usually takes.

"Where did you get this nose?" she asks.

"My mom," he replies.

Skye smiles at the word _mom_. Not mother, just mom. She feels a rush of tenderness.

"Well, she did a good job," she tells him.

She wants to kiss his nose, to kiss him, touch him all over. Whatever that was against the wall it wasn't enough. Not for her, anyway.

Coulson looks between their bodies and sighs, contemplating what they have just done. He runs his hand across Skye's back. She wishes she hadn't thrown on the bathrobe. She would love to be properly touched by him. Not the whole banging with their clothes on. She wants to feel him against her naked skin. But Coulson is looking at her like he's a bit torn about the whole thing.

"I'm sorry," he says softly. "I'm normally not that..."

" _Impulsive_?" she offers. "Yeah, that's usually my line."

She stretches across the bed to kiss him. And it's nice – she hadn't properly processed how nice his mouth was, with all the drama of their first time. But though he kisses her back she can tell there's something stiff about it.

"I'm sorry," he says again. "I let that get a bit out of hand."

"Hey, I'm not complaining," Skye says, nuzzling her nose against his jaw. That was pretty spectacular."

He makes a noncommittal noise and Skye thinks he should be touching her a lot more than he is touching her.

"So how are you usually?" she asks.

"What?"

"You're not usually that impulsive. So how are you _usually_?"

"I'm not usually this irresponsible."

"Oh."

She looks away. He thinks this has been a mistake. Of course.

"No, no," Coulson says, wrapping his hand around her forearm and trying to get her to look at him. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry."

"So... you don't regret this?"

He presses her arm against the mattress. He pushes her onto her back and pulls his weight on her. It's a bit too much and a bit too real. The thing against the wall – very emotional and very nice, yes, but sort of out of character. This is them. This is Coulson climbing on top of her and breathing deeply, hot against her face.

He touches his fingertips against her cheek, a gesture that feels simultaneously devotional and kinda dirty.

"Couldn't regret it if I wanted to," he confesses, softly. Then he looks at her more seriously: "I don't want to."

He smashes their mouths together, not unlike he did when she tried to walk away, the same raw urgency.

"Okay, that's good," Skye says, pulling away with a bit of a drunken laughter. Drunken on possibilities. A bit on champagne. Mainly on Coulson and what he means to her.

"You all right with this?" he asks. His voice tinted with his best, nicest boss persona. Skye likes that. She didn't fall in love with the guy who would fuck her against a wall. That was just a nice addition to the package.

"I'm okay," she says. Then thinks about it. "Hungry, mostly."

He smiles at her. A sweet, simple smile. Unlike the fake one back at the bar. This is so much better. Skye presses her fingers to the side of his face, and along his hairline. He's gotten a lot more gray hairs lately, hasn't he. No wonder, with the stuff they have gone through. Skye doesn't mind. She likes it. Sure, he's older-ish, but that was never the problem.

Coulson replies in kind, caressing the line of her throat, the hollow of her neck.

"You want to order room service?" he asks her.

She thought he'd never ask.

"Unless you want to move from this bed," Skye says, rolling her hips against his growing hard-on. She smirks when he groans. It's so weird seeing Director Coulson like this, so satisfying.

"Fine, just give me half an hour," he replies, grabbing the lapel of Skye's robe and pulling it off her shoulder, dipping his head to lay one kiss on the exposed area.

Skye widens her eyes, "You're going to need _half an hour_?"

"I would like to have _two_ hours," he says, slipping his hand under her bathrobe and wrapping his fingers around her hip. "But I'm hungry too."


End file.
